Gene Upshaw, Union Chief, Dies at 63

By JUDY BATTISTA; Billy Witz contributed reporting from Long Beach, Calif., Mike Ogle from East Rutherford, N.J., and Alan Schwarz from New York.

Published: August 22, 2008

They called Gene Upshaw the Governor because he carried himself like a leader from the time he arrived in the N.F.L. from the tiny Texas College of Arts and Industries.

For 15 years, he was such a bedrock of the Oakland Raiders' offensive line that he became the first player used exclusively at guard to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And in an extraordinary second act, for 25 sometimes contentious years, he led the players union through the tumult of a strike, the gambit of decertification, the victory of free agency, an explosion in player salaries and the debate over provisions for retired players.

Late Wednesday night, with his union preparing for another contract negotiation with owners, Upshaw died at age 63 of pancreatic cancer. The union confirmed his death Thursday. His death stunned the N.F.L. because almost nobody knew he had been ill. Upshaw had appeared so gaunt at the recent Hall of Fame induction ceremony that some of those who saw him worried about his health. Upshaw was found to have cancer only last Sunday, when his wife took him to the hospital while the family was on vacation.

His death was so unexpected that earlier this week, the union had scheduled a news conference for him on Sept. 4 to discuss labor issues. Upshaw died with his wife and three sons beside him at his home in the Lake Tahoe region of California. At Giants practice Thursday, the team had a moment of silence in his honor before practice began.

On Thursday, the union's executive committee voted unanimously to appoint Richard Berthelsen the interim executive director. Berthelsen is the union's longtime general counsel and was a member of the negotiating committee for 37 years, during which he grew close to Upshaw. He will probably remain in the position until the union's annual meeting in March and perhaps longer, until a new contract is negotiated. Among the former players who could seek the job are Trace Armstrong and Troy Vincent, both of whom have been active in union issues.

The negotiations are expected to be difficult. In May, team owners opted out of the current collective bargaining agreement, forcing negotiations to avoid playing the 2010 season without a salary cap and having a work stoppage in 2011.

''Losing him is like losing a chunk of myself,'' Berthelsen said by telephone. ''The game is better off for him having played it, and it's better off for him having led the union than it would have been with any other single individual.''

Born in 1945 in Robstown, Tex., Upshaw picked cotton as a child, and he played just a year of high school football. But he earned N.A.I.A. All-American honors and was the Raiders' first-round pick in the 1967 draft. He became a dominating guard when Oakland was at its zenith and is the only player to appear in three Super Bowls in three different decades for the same team. He played in 217 games and in many of them he anchored the left side of the Raiders' offensive line with the Hall of Fame tackle Art Shell and the Hall of Fame tight end Dave Casper.

''They basically ran to the left, if they ran 30 running plays, 28 of them were going to be that way,'' said Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy, who was a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers at the time. ''I don't know if you can put three better players together, ever, than those three guys.''

The former Raiders coach Tom Flores said the qualities Upshaw displayed in the locker room -- confidence, intelligence and an outgoing, upbeat personality -- made his ascension to union chief predictable. ''He became a politician in the classroom,'' Flores said in a telephone interview.

In 1980, Upshaw was part of a core of veterans that Flores turned to in order to bring the team together. After missing the playoffs a year earlier in Flores's first season as coach, the Raiders were 2-3 heading into a game against the San Diego Chargers, whom they trailed by two games.

The Raiders won that game, 38-24, and went on to win that season's Super Bowl.

But Upshaw's power as the first African-American head of a major players union ultimately eclipsed his playing career. Drawn to politics early in his career, he became the head of the players association in 1983 at a time when the union was in dire financial straits.

''He built that organization from the ground up, and he fought fights all the way,'' Armstrong said.

In 1987, the players struck, which led to games with replacement players. By 1993, Upshaw and the former N.F.L. commissioner Paul Tagliabue had negotiated a deal that gave players the right to free agency in exchange for a salary cap.

It was a landmark decision for the N.F.L., assuring a measure of competitive balance, starting a period of sustained labor peace and helping to send revenues and player salaries soaring. The salary cap is $116 million per team this season and, according to owners' figures, players will be paid a total of $4.5 billion this season. Upshaw recently said that if the league ever played a year without the cap, he would not sell it to the players again.

But his greatest achievement as a labor boss was the establishment of free agency, which granted football players the same freedom of movement that players in other sports already had.